You can't even help him?! ing useless dip you are!

ing useless dip you are!

ing useless dip

Useless.

You're nothing to be proud of.

She wouldn't have left.

It's your fault.

Useless.

Lay inhaled deeply and stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to ignore the memories his brain was dragging back into his mind.

He had learned to store away memories that he did not want to remember but just one small reminder and everything would come rushing back. He could not care less about what anyone else thought.  What ChanYeol said did not hurt him.

The memories it brought back though...

He ruffled his hair and knocked his head with a fist. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he yelled, clutching his hair and stomping his feet.

"Ouch, YiXing, I knew I was no singer but am I really that bad?"

Lay unclenched his fist and let his hands drop to his sides, not bothering to fix his hair. He cursed under his breath and turned to face the voice behind him. "Oh--Dana. N-no, I didn't mean you, of course. I didn't even realize you were... Do you need help with that?" He gestured to the basket of bread she was carrying that looked like it could feed the whole camp.

She grinned, and pushed the basket to him. "Thanks! I was just taking this to the dining area."

He accepted the basket and led the way. "What are you planning to do with this anyway? Didn't we just have dinner?"

"There are people coming this way from the North. About forty, maybe?" She began singing to herself and Lay left her to it as he eventually reached the dining area--picnic tables lined up to seat the survivors--and plopped the basket of bread on it. He felt a pat on his back and looked up to see Dana smiling at him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Lay waved and was about to leave but Dana stopped him as she sat down.

"Hey, don't leave yet. I think those forty people are injured," she told him.

Lay's eyes widened. "All fourty?"

"Looks like a fire or something." She made a face. "Sorry, plants don't really see well. They don't have eyes. They see the world through vibrations in the soil and it ain't always all that accurate. Just stay! They may really be injured." Seeing as he had nothing to do anyway, Lay took a seat next to her and stared ahead to see a trail of plants. Dana laughed at his reaction. "Sorry, that just happens sometimes. Normally it's just one plant." She plucked out the closest plant with a bunch of pretty, pink orchid-like flowers and glared at it. "I'm going to have to pluck all these out later or Lina will get upset."

"Lina?" Lay repeated.

"My sister," Dana replied. "JiYeon ShangMei Lina."

"Beauty of heaven," Lay translated.

Dana nodded and leaned forward to pluck out another plant. This one looked familiar. SeHun had showed it to him. What was it called again? Atra--Atropa bella-something? And it meant-- "She's really... neat. She gets really upset with me when I sing because of the aftermath." She gestured to the trail of flowers and laughed at herself. Lay joined her on the ground to pluck out the plants.

She froze and looked at the direction of the stadium's entrance. "Oh," she began. "LuHan and SeHun are back." Lay nodded, not really caring, focusing only on only the plants, desperate not to let his haunting memories creep back in.

Meanwhile in the medical tent, it was hot and humid. TaeYeon and SungGyu had operated on BaekHyun's leg and foresaw no complications so they left the room to tend to other patients and allowed XiuMin to de-freeze ChanYeol and Kai. XiuMin and SuHo, after making sure that the two other males were calm, left the tent as well.

ChanYeol was drying and warming himself up with his ability, making the air around them feel damp and really really warm, like a steam room. He sat next to BaekHyun's bed, clutching his best friend's hand in his, breathing warm air onto it. He intentionally heat up the room, knowing that BaekHyun got cold really easily. Anything to make his best friend more comfortable. Kai slept comfortably in the corner of the room, letting ChanYeol's warmth spread over his body. It was a welcome change compared to the freezing hell XiuMin and SuHo left him in.

His peaceful nap didn't last long though, as the curtains drew back noisily and a hand yanked him up. He blinked sleepily and tried to make sense of things as he was dragged outside, the cold night air making his skin sting, and onto one of the few remaining seats of the stadium.

"What did you tell SeHun the day after I left?"

LuHan, Kai recognized, but his brain was not up to registering what LuHan had said. "Wha...?" he moaned dumbly, rubbing his eyes.

LuHan sighed. "The day after I left, you spoke to SeHun," he said slowly. Kai nodded. "What did you say?"

Kai smiled sleepily. "Well it went something like--" Something clicked in his brain. His eyes widened and his lips parted.

LuHan leaned forward and took his hand. "Kai?" Kai looked at him, his mouth opening then closing. "I want the truth."

Kai looked away and retrieved his hand. He took in a breath, held it then exhaled, seeing LuHan look at him expectantly. "Truthfully, LuHan, I've always had this little crush on you. Since SeHun introduced you to me." LuHan stared at him, confused at his sudden confession. "But I could see that you liked him and he liked you very much. As a friend, I was happy for you but..." He sighed and shook his head. "I was jealous, LuHan but I left you alone... Until you ended it--"

"I didn't end it!" LuHan protested.

"I took the chance, LuHan. I wanted to try..." He stood up and paused. "...us out." He put a finger to his lips and closed his eyes. "LuHan, just know that even though in your eyes, what I've done is horrible... SeHun's slate isn't all that clean either."

"What did you do?" LuHan whispered, his voice shaky.

Kai sat back down and sighed. "A day after you left, SeHun looked for you. I told him you were going to meet up with me and so I invited him for lunch with 'us'." He put quotation marks around the word "us".

Ding!

The shop's bell sounded, signalling the arrival of another customer. Kai looked up from his half-empty cup of coffee. SeHun was standing by his table, a grin on his face, a bunch of flowers on one hand and a paper bag in the other.

"Awww," Kai crooned, a tired smile gracing his features. "Is that for me? Oh, you shouldn't have."

SeHun rolled his eyes and took a seat next to Kai, leaving the space opposite empty for LuHan. Speaking of which... "Where's LuHan?" SeHun asked, his smile faltering slightly.

Kai wrapped his hands around the coffee cup infront of him and the handle. "He left."

SeHun had stopped smiling. "Oh..." he muttered, disappointment written all over his face. He put the paper bag and flowers on the table. "I thought you said meet at twelve... When did he--"

"Yesterday."

SeHun faced Kai. "Yesterday?" he repeated. "What happened yesterday?"

Kai grunted impatiently. "He left yesterday."

"W-what?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" Kai snapped. "He left yesterday and it's because you were holding him back from what he truly wanted." SeHun's face spelled utter confusion and Kai looked back down at his coffee cup. "He was... cheating on you, SeHun."

The look on his best friend's face made Kai want to slap himself. But it was too late to take it back... and to get what he wanted, sacrifices had to be made. "With who?" SeHun question, his voice dangerously low.

"With... me." Guilt and regret flooded Kai. He wanted to take it back. SeHun was angry. SeHun would hate LuHan and him. He would've lost a valued friend. But upon saying those words, it felt like a dam broke in him and he just couldn't stop himself as he continued spilling lies. "He left because he loved both of us very much and he didn't want to choose one without hurting the other so he decided--"

"--To hurt both by leaving?" SeHun guessed, crushing the flower stems in his hands. The wind in the diner began to stir.

Kai sighed and closed his eyes. "I... guess so," he answered after a moment of hesitation.

"Did he love you more then?" SeHun asked. "He spoke to you yesterday. He hugged you yesterday. If he really loved both of us equally why'd he tell you?"

Kai leaned back and looked everywhere but at SeHun. "I... Don't know." He drank his coffee and slammed the cup down onto the table. "SeHun, I think it's best if we forget about LuHan. The both of us. We've been best friends since we were born and we can't just let LuHan--someone you knew for a year--get between that."

Kai could almost feel the weight of a mini-devil on his shoulder whispering in a mocking voice. "That's right. Lie to him. Keep your best friend and get the girl. Perfect plan," the imaginary mini-devil snickered.

SeHun stood up. "I need some air." He, to Kai's surprise, smiled, took his paper bag, leaving the flowers in place, and left with a small wave.

Little did Kai know, that that was the last smile he was going to see from SeHun in a long time.

"L-LuHan, I'm so sorry," Kai murmured, watching LuHan bring a shivering hand up to his mouth, muffling his escaping sobs.

"Yea, LuHan, he's sorry," a distorted, rough, deep voice added sarcastically. "He really does love you." The two turned seeing a man shuffle down to them from where he had been resting a few seats away. His features weren't clear and all that was visible was his shadow, for he was standing in a place where the light eminating from the camp could not touch. "After all, all is fair in love and war, isn't it?"

Kai gripped LuHan's wrist, seeing a light reflect from under the sleeve of the figure's jacket. "Excuse me," Kai snapped. "We're having a private talk here so--"

"WHO LEFT THE GATE OPEN?!"

The unkown man cackled. "SeHun did!" LuHan turned to glare at the man but gasped as he stepped out into the light. Four crimson lines around the man's eyes. That's all it took for the duo to realize that--

"IT'S AN AMBUSH!"

Omo. Who could that beeee? O.e I'm sorry for the really late update guys. My exam results came back.... It was.... bad O.e Damn. I'll go back to daily updates after the weekends but for now, my computer is only with me for thirty mins max so... UGH. If only I could type this on my phone.... Well, sorry guys. Time's almost up. I'll be replying and welcoming on the next update so goodbye baby goodbye~ See you next time~~

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